It was a great surprised that Barisan National lost the Sibu by election. Sibu constituency has been a stronghold of Barisan National for many years. The Prime Minister was convinced that the by election would be won by Barisan National. The result of the election is an eye opener to Barisan National was said by the President of MCA, Dr Chua Soh Lek. He said there are many issues that involve the Chinese communities which are not resolved by the Government. What are the issues are only known to the President of MCA. All races have many unresolved issues but other races are not as vocal and united as the Chinese are. In the by election of Hulu Selangor CLICK the Chinese communities also did not support the government either as they also did in the Sibu by election. If the pattern continues until the next general election Barisan National may even lose the general election. Barisan National must immediately resolve many issues if they want to win the next coming general election, but as Tun Dr Mahathir has indicated previously the time is short and the problems to be resolve are far too many. Our Prime Minister is working hard to resolve all the problems of our country as well as the party, but as human being he has many short coming. Many people around him instead of helping him to resolve problems are adding more problems to him.

Malays are emotional people and when there are emotional issues involving the government particularly the Prime Minister, the Malay’s emotion can be played so such an extent that, they may not even support the government. In that situation, the Malays can easily change their votes to the opposition. The Chinese are more looking at the economic problems. When business is good and the country is prosperous the Chinese will support the government.

The Chinese support the government during the time of Tun Dr Mahathir although during that times there were many emotional issues related to the Prime Minister. More Malays at that time tend to support the opposition as they perceive the government at that time is doing injustice to a particular individual. The Chinese on the other hand are not emotional as the Malays and the Indians are. They hardly bother about any moral issues related to the government. The Chinese is more worried about the economic problems. They are worried more about their livelihood than the scandals face by the leaders of this country. The Indians are more sensitive to issues related to Indians communities. It is probably easy to tackles the Indians than the Malays and the Chinese. It is difficult to tackles emotional and the economic issues that the Chinese and the Malays perceive as important issues. The governments are now facing both the emotional and the economic problems and the support of the Malays and the Chinese towards the present government has reduced dramatically. When the support of the Malays and the Chinese to the government is down the present government is expected to lose in the next general election.

In order to win in the next coming general election the government must resolve both the economic and the emotional problems facing the government. The emotional problems face by the government is great as it involve the Prime Minister and his wife. The murder case of the Mongolian lady, Altantuya was not resolved. The public has doubt that the murderers of the poor Mongolian lady were the two policemen that were sentenced to death. The trial of the murder case did not reveal the names of the person or persons that had given the instruction to the policemen to killed the lady. All peoples know and convince that no policemen will ever do anything without instruction. Who instructed the two policemen? These still remain a mystery. In case Abdul Razak Baginda was not the one who was involved, then who was involved? The public want to know and they have suspected that the government of Malaysia must have been involved.
The image of the government is greatly tarnished and to work of cleaning the image of the government is indeed tantamount. Although our Prime Minister has denied his involvement in the murder case of Altantuya but the Malaysian public particularly the Malays in my opinion is not convinced. The Malays are particularly sensitive to issues related to moral and religion while the Chinese and the Indians are not. When these issues are capitalized to its maximum by the opposition party in the next coming general election the government will certainly lose the votes of the majority of the Malays. In case the economy does not improve the government will certainly lose the vote of the majority of the Chinese. In this situation in my opinion the government will lose in the next coming general election. Indians are very sensitive to any issues related to their race and their needs. Since the numbers of Indians are less than the Malays and the Chinese, the government may temporarily ignore any issues related to the Indians. On issues related to the Indians it is wise to let the Indians themselves to resolve the issues as any comment on their issues will be regarded by Indians as interference.

In order for the government to win in the next coming general election, the government has to focus on the economic issues. The government has to continue to subsidize the important commodities in order to prevent the increase of food prices. The people are not impressed by figures that indicatethe country prosperity but they are more interested with their own prosperity. Everyone is concerned with the increase prices of food and petrol. Any increase in the price of food and petrol and stringent measures on government spending will clearly indicates to the public that the economy is worsening and this immediately set an alarm on their mind that the present government has to be changed. When this alarm has been set on their mind then in the next general election the opposition party will win the election with overwhelming majority. In order to win in the next general election the government has to be popular. The government can never become popular when economy is down and the prices of foods and petrol are high. Malaysians have been pampered with subsidy and they are used with that and any action taken by the government to withdraw the subsidy will not be a popular actions.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
June 2010
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre